Chhatikara

Who can buy agricultural land? The Revenue Code sections we read set a size limit (section 89) and special rules for land held by Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe members (sections 98 and 99). None asks the buyer to be a farmer or to live in the state (UP Revenue Code 2006, IGRS UP). We did not read the whole tenure chapter, so ask the Sub-Registrar whether anything further applies. The Code repealed the Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act 1950 when it was enforced on 18 December 2015 (SCC Online, February 2016).

Holding limit: section 89(2) of the Code bars a purchase or gift that would take the buyer's total holding in Uttar Pradesh above 5.0586 hectares, about 12.5 acres on our conversion (UP Revenue Code 2006). Under the earlier Act the Supreme Court read a company as a person for this limit and let the excess vest in the State (Oswal Fats and Oils, April 2010). The separate 1960 Ceiling Act caps total holdings; the India Code text gives 7.30 hectares of irrigated land for a family of five or fewer, with additions for larger families, and the text mixes acres and hectares, so the current schedule needs checking (India Code).

DNGIR villages: the Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad Investment Region covers 84 notified villages, 63 in Bulandshahr and 21 in Gautam Buddh Nagar, notified in October 2024 (Swarajya, July 2026). In January 2024 a Noida Authority letter to the Stamp Department halted purchase and sale in the proposed villages, with registration of agricultural land needing the Authority's consent (Sakshi Post, January 2024). Two July 2026 reports on acquisition by mutual consent do not mention the halt (Millennium Post, July 2026), so ask the Noida Authority or the District Magistrate's office whether it still applies to a given village.

Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe land: a Scheduled Caste bhumidhar needs the Collector's previous written permission to transfer land to a non-Scheduled Caste buyer (section 98), and a Scheduled Tribe bhumidhar may not transfer to a non-Scheduled Tribe buyer (section 99) (UP Revenue Code 2006). The Allahabad High Court described a transfer without the permission as void in Omwati v District Collector, Pilibhit, November 2022.

NRI & OCI buyers: the Reserve Bank's Master Direction under FEMA 1999 excludes agricultural land, plantation land and a farm house from what NRIs and OCIs may buy or receive as a gift (paragraphs 3.1.1 and 3.1.2). Inheritance is covered separately in paragraphs 3.1.3 and 3.1.4, without that exclusion (Reserve Bank of India Master Direction FED 12/2015-16).

By road and rail

Read this before relying on distances

A highway-edge village can look close to Mathura and Vrindavan on a map, but service roads, pilgrim traffic and railway crossings change real travel times. Check the actual approach to the khasra; a plot on a village track and one on the highway service road are different assets even a kilometre apart.

Growth catalysts

Upcoming infrastructure & developments

Status labels maintained by the Farmland India research desk. Government-announced timelines — not guaranteed.